Visit San Filippo del Mela
San Filippo del Mela is a municipality of nearly seven thousand inhabitants located in the Tyrrhenian belt of the Metropolitan City of Messina, about 123 meters above sea level.
Early settlements
The earliest settlements, based on some archaeological finds, date back to Greco-Roman times. In fact, it is assumed that in the hamlet of Archi, at the mouth of the Floripotema stream, was the navigable channel constituting the mouth of the Nauloco, a wide basin capable of accommodating the 300 ships of Sextus Pompey’s fleet that was defeated by Octavian Augustus’ fleet off Milazzo on September 3, 36 B.C.
Historical developments
The Norman Count Roger I of Altavilla founded an abbey there, following a vow for a victory over the Arabs, dedicating it to St. Philip of Agira, and entrusted it to Basilian monks; the toponym is first attested in a donation document of 1088. The monastery was endowed with angaric rights, and the abbot was entitled to a seat in the ecclesiastical arm of the Sicilian parliament. In 1094 the monastery of San Filippo, originally assigned to the bishop of Messina, came under the jurisdiction of that of Patti and, in 1206, to the nullius prelature of Santa Lucia del Mela. A farmhouse arose near the abbey, the events of which continued to be linked to its history.
Cathedral
In 1355, Frederick IV of Sicily recognized it as an “ecclesiastical body of royal patronage” and endowed it with privileges and immunities. Given to be ruined in 1542 following an earthquake, it was partially rebuilt at the end of the century but suffered new very serious damage caused by a new earthquake in 1693. After a visit by Monsignor De Ciocchis in 1742 it is described as in ruins because of its antiquity, and in the second half of the same century it was replaced by the present cathedral. The last abbot was Antonio Franco Basile, appointed in 1857 by Ferdinand II of Bourbon.
Autonomy
San Filippo, administratively dependent on Santa Lucia del Mela, gained municipal autonomy on October 16, 1853. Its territory was the scene of much of the fighting between the Bourbons and Garibaldini (supported by the latter en masse by the Filipese), held particularly on July 17, 1860 in the hamlet of Corriolo, the outcome of which proved decisive three days later in the more famous battle of Milazzo. In 1877, the appellation “del Mela” was added to the place name, named after the river that flows west of the municipality and is partly its border.
A new way
The location of San Filippo del Mela, a strategic crossroads for the major centers of the Tyrrhenian strip of the province of Messina, including Milazzo and Barcellona P.G., over the past decades has made it an active artisanal and, in particular, commercial center, a destination for many visitors, especially on weekends.
It has recently focused a great deal of attention on the processes of environmentalization of the industrial realities present there and has also registered the emergence of excellent production activities, linked to the original rural vocation of the area, which together with the recognized quality restaurant segment and hospitality services in general, support the widespread effort to make it a place of tourist interest.
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